My Sap

[Fella]

A few pictures as a teaser as I wait for a few more, but these are photos of "Archimedes" my new SAP. He's pretty small right now, and he's full of personality. Lots of people compare them to dogs, and I can see why, he reacts to voice and "plays follow the finger" a lot.

SAP's are usually from South America, and their main diet in the wild is believed to be snails and hard invertebrates. Here is a picture of Archimedes eating a snail

He's not yet started crushing the snails yet (he's a bit small and they're a bit big!) but he sucks them out of the shell at the moment. He's so good at this I held a snail underwater yesterday and let him take the snail clean out of it, so I could remove the shell and save on tank mess. It's not ideal in the long run mind you, he'll need to learn how to crunch them else his teeth will become bothersome.

Here's another photo of him -

I was a bit annoyed that before I got him there were no really good photos of SAP's online, but I hope to change that a bit. Although in the above photo a root he's dug up looks like a bad poo!

Like I say, I'll provide a few more pictures a bit later on. I hope you enjoy them!

 

[Bloo]

Very cool piccies

 

[BigC]

Yeah nice pics.
I seen these little puffers in a dealers tank in Belfast recently. My kids wanted one straight away. I was ignorant as to their requirements and had to say no. (their faces dropped considerably). The fish themselves seem to have bags of character and you could quite easily become attached to such a fish moreso than say a zebra danio. (nothing against zebra danios I might add)
The spark is there and I might get one, some day soon.
Regards
BigC

 

[Fella]

Yeah nice pics.
I seen these little puffers in a dealers tank in Belfast recently. My kids wanted one straight away. I was ignorant as to their requirements and had to say no. (their faces dropped considerably). The fish themselves seem to have bags of character and you could quite easily become attached to such a fish moreso than say a zebra danio. (nothing against zebra danios I might add)
The spark is there and I might get one, some day soon.
Regards
BigC

I say do it! They're specialist fish for sure, but if i was going to pick a single type of fish to get people ito fishkeeping, its gotta be these guys. They do have bags of personality like you say and I'm very attatched to them already (but the again, I get easily attatched to any fish I keep...). There's loads of info out there on the net and there are puffers for everybody. Ambushers, busy fish, dwarf, etc a quick google for a list of puffers will give you plenty of results.

If you needed any pointers or links I'd be very happy to help.

 

[cometcattle]

Great pics and beautiful fish!

What is an ideal tank size for a SAP? Can they be kept with any bottom dwellers?
I saw a nice one today and I'm tempted.

 

[Fella]

Great pics and beautiful fish!

What is an ideal tank size for a SAP? Can they be kept with any bottom dwellers?
I saw a nice one today and I'm tempted.

Mines in a 20ish Gallon (just under) but I'd say a 15 would be minimum for an SAP. They can tolerate tankmates as they are supposedly the most peaceful of all the puffer family. However, i still wouldn't risk it. To me, puffers aren't community fish, and they're best off on their own. Sap's you can occasionally get away with keeping them together I'm told, but, I wouldn't want to risk it so much. I certainly wouldn't put them in with my multis if thats what you're thinking!

If you do get an SAP though, remember you'll need plenty of snails (not malaysian trumpets!) and be ready to have to anaesthetise them within 6 months to do a clipping. nerve racking stuff!

 

[Angel Lady]

Great pictures Puffers are a very pretty fish. I just cant seem to keep them alive for some reason.

 

[Puffer_freak]

Puffers shouldn't reall be kept in a community tank, as most are, at best, fin nippers. You will get the occasional exception to the rule, but it is down to the actual puffer and their personalities can change over night. Literally.

EDIT: Beautiful pictures Fella!

 

[Synirr]

He's simply adorable! Gotta love puffers

 

[zoeae]

He is very pretty.

 

[Erised]

Great pics and beautiful fish!

What is an ideal tank size for a SAP? Can they be kept with any bottom dwellers?
I saw a nice one today and I'm tempted.

When I had my SAPs, they made great effort to leave all fish alone 'cept for the corydoras, banjo catfish and plecs .... no clue why, but they would actually go out of their way to chase and nip their fins. I've heard others claim this as well, so I'd say bottom dwellers are a definate no.

 

[BigC]

If you needed any pointers or links I'd be very happy to help.

Thanks I'll be in touch soon
Regards
BigC

 

[wuvmybetta]

awww,they're just darling I've always wanted a puffer tank, but instead I'll just admire everyone elses.

 

[hellohefalump]

fabulous pics!

try crushing the snail in your fingers and then feeding it to him, it'll give him the idea that the shells are meant to be bitten into. That's how I got mine eating his snails properly.

 

[Fella]

fabulous pics!

try crushing the snail in your fingers and then feeding it to him, it'll give him the idea that the shells are meant to be bitten into. That's how I got mine eating his snails properly.

I didn't need to do that, he's got into the swing of just crushing the shell into tiny bits and eating the contents already

He's quite vicious really, picking snails off the glass and then waiting for them to come out of their shells before attacking them! A bit mean!


Thanks to everyone who has had kind words!